Echo readers want to see tougher punishments for people who make hoax calls to emergency services

Readers say there should be tougher punishments for people who make hoax or nuisance calls to the emergency services but agree that people with mental health issues should be taken into consideration.

We asked readers: “Do you think there should be tougher punishments for people who make hoax or nuisance calls to the emergency services?”

And 99% of the 1.7K people that took part with the online poll agreed that there should be tougher punishments.

Here’s what readers had to say:

Jan Hepple said: “Yes I think there should be because people are just abusing it when it's designed to actually save a life.”

Karl Gates said: “Make them pay huge fines straight to the NHS.”

Lynn Elliott said: “The emergency services are pushed to the limit.“People need education into when and when not to call. People who make hoax calls are not thinking about the people who may be trying to get through with a genuine emergency.”

Paul Leake said: “If people are doing this for a laugh by all means fine them heavily but quite a lot of this won't be malicious but will be from people who just don't have a clue or who have mental health or personality disorders for whom there are better ways of prevention than fining.“Thankfully people ringing 999 with clearly frivolous things are got off the line quickly, far more damage caused when people make fake calls about fires or make up symptoms to get an ambulance sent out that they didn't really need.”